ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president

Today should be an interesting day for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir as the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands has charged him with crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.

Sudan could possibly be one of United States President Barack Obama’s major international challenges. A good portion of challenges overseas have come from Africa and the Middle East. In the case of Sudan, things could get a wee bit interesting. Why? It is because the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir. He was charged of both war crimes and crimes against humanity. Al-Bashir’s administration denounced the charges. “There will be no recognition of or dealing with the white man’s court, which has no mandate in Sudan or against any of its people,” said Sudan’s Information Ministry. But condemnation of the verdict was not the only thing that happened. Many humanitarian operations were halted. This is due to the government booting out ten humanitarian groups in further retaliation. One question should be asked: Will al-Bashir end up facing trial? Should that be the case, he gets life behind bars. In this case, al-Bashir may be stuck in Sudan for the rest of his life. There is the possibility if al-Bashir leaves the country, he’ll get arrested. This could also shake up the United Nations as well. Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, the Sudanese Ambassador to the UN also condemned the guilty verdict given to al-Bashir. He would use William Shakespeare’s play of “Macbeth” as a result. On a side note, invoking Macbeth is not really a good thing. Macbeth is considered one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest plays because of the bloodshed in the story. In theatre, it is bad luck to invoke Macbeth in any part of the theatre. Abdalhaleem said that this is a stain that will never go away. He said: “For us the ICC doesn’t exist … and we are in no way going to cooperate with it.”